M. Cocceius Nerva's celebration of Divus Augustus on coins was to show his desire for continuity with the Julio-Claudians, and he was eventually buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus with those emperors. Nerva's regime promised stability through continuity of the acceptable aspects of Domitian's rule. The reign of Trajan, rather than the brief episode of Nerva, must be held the effective beginning of that period 'during which', said Gibbon, 'the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous'. The growing 'paternalism' demonstrated by the Flavians continued under Trajan. Short of adoption, Trajan could have indicated his wishes clearly by advancing Hadrian's career rapidly. Trajan made even the shrewd and sceptical Tacitus feel that Rome was again fulfilling her destiny under an emperor who advanced her boundaries to the Indian Ocean. Under the Flavians, Nerva and Trajan, the Principate had finally produced what the empire needed: the tenacious Agricola, the diligent Frontinus, the conscientious Pliny.
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